Community Based Unit of Instruction

During my 15 week internship I completed a Community Based Unit of Instruction in my Advanced Single Cylinder Engines class. I spent the entire time of teaching this course building up to this unit called Maintenance and Repair.  This unit consisted of students completing maintenance and repairs on community members' engines. The have to identify the problem (if there is one) and repair it to working order. It took weeks of preparation, so here is a basic timeline of what happened.

• Fall semester: The unit was created and revised to meet the school's needs. 
• January-March: Students learned about troubleshooting ignition systems, compression, and fuel systems. 
• Early March: The flyer was created, edited, and sent out to school faculty, staff, and community members. Students created and edited a brochure on fall/winter maintenance. 
• Late march-April: Students begin receiving engines from the community. They break off into teams to complete the work. When they finish with an engine, they are to complete an engine analysis sheet. One copy will stay with Mohawk, and another will be sent with the customer. The students would meet up with the customers to converse about the engine. Students would inform the community about their brochure and how to prevent further damage to their engine. 

So.. that gave a simple timeline of preparation for the project and the project itself. There are some other small details along the way. This project needed no funding. The owner of the engine was responsible for the cost of parts, but were not charged for labor. The students were completing the project for the experience of working in a shop, troubleshooting, and informing the public. 

What would I have done differently?

As I reflect back onto this experience, I would have tweaked a couple items. First, I would change some of the lessons used to lead up to the project. I tried a lot of hands-on troubleshooting lessons, but I feel like the students could have used more lessons on theory. Secondly, I would have changed the way students prepared the brochure. They did a great job on it, but I need to change the way I facilitate that portion. Students didn't understand how to create a brochure. Lastly, I would have stressed the importance early on of completing engines in a timely manner. Some groups drug their work out, while others worked just fine. 

Overall, this service learning project went much better than I could have expected. Most of my issues with this were on the facilitation end of things. With due time, these kinks will be worked out and the project would run flawlessly. My students enjoyed the hands-on experience, and the community enjoys supporting the agricultural classes.